Document endorsing apparatus



March 5, 1957 s. J. WENTHE ETAL 2,783,710

DOCUMENT ENDORSING APPARATUS Filed May 4, 1955 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 AllSigrhen JIWenI/ze Q 'I'homas (1. Murray ATTORNEYS March 1957 5. J.WENTHE ETAL DOCUMENT ENDORSING APPARATUS 4 sheets -sheet 3 Filed May 4,1955 aJmnz/w Thomas GMurrag IN VEN TORS ag 4 2%., ATTORAIEXS' March 5,1957 s. J. WENTHE ET AL 2,783,710

DOCUMENT ENDORSING APPARATUS Filed May 4, 1955 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 si maJWenike Thomas 62 Murray IN V EN TORS' ATTORJEEYS N. Y., assignors toEastman Kodak Company, Rochester, N. Y., a corporation of New JerseyApplication May 4, i955, sens] No. 505,972 3 Claims. (Cl. 101-234 Thisinvention relates to a document endorsing apparatus and moreparticularly. to a document actuated document endorsing machanism fordocument endorsing apparatus Modern innovations and improvements indocum ent feeding techniques and apparatus have resulted in greatlyincreased speeds of document feed and transport. Necessarily thedistance between the trailing andleading edges respectively ofsuccessive documents has been greatly reduced. The known documentendorsing apparatus, hereinafter referred to as an endorser, has beennot entirely satisfactory for the reason that many documents fail toreceive an impression from the endorsing mechanism because withdocuments so closely spaced, insufiicient time elapses between the timethat the trailing edge of one document and the leading edge of thesucceeding document passes the actuating means of the endorsingmechanism, to enable the actuating means to return to the normaldocument engaging position in the document path for actuation by thesaid succeeding document. 7

This is particularly noticeable in that type of endorser in which theactuating means for the endorsing mechanism is formed of relativelyheavy and/or numerous mechanical parts Which after passage of adocument,rely on the force of gravity and/ or springs to be reset in the path ofthe succeeding document. Quite obviously, the inertia and friction ofthese parts must be overcome in the very short period of time whichelapses between successive documents. While some of the known prior arthas proposed the use of relatively heavier springs to overcome theseforces, these efforts have not produced satisfactory results for thereason that relatively lightweight documents fail to strike theactuating mechanism with sufficient force and rigidity to overcome theheavier spring bias and therefore fail to actuate the "endorsingmechanism. 7 g g According to the present invention we provide adocument engaging claw slidably mountedon apawl lever and supported in araised position by the surface of the document passing thereunder, saidclaw being adapted to slide vertically downward with respect to the pawllever into the document path after passage of the trailing edge of thesupporting document and be in position to be engaged by the leading edgeof the succeeding document. When the leading edge of a document strikesthe claw, the pawl lever is pivoted to a position to actuate'theendorsing mechanism and then the pawl and claw are immediately returnedby means of a light tension spring to the position which is occupiedprior'to actuation by documents except that the claw is supported in theabove mentioned raised position by the surface of the document. Thus,the necessity of using heavy and/or numerous mechanical parts, whichhave to be resetinto document actuating position in the document path bymeans of relatively heavy springs and/or gravity during the interval oftime elapsing between the'pa'ssa'ge of the trailing edge of one documentand the closely spaced nited States Patent" 2 leading edge of thesucceeding document, has been eliminated.

The primary object therefore of the present invention is to provide inan endorser, a document actuated document endorsing mechanism which isactuated bye'ach document passing through the endorser and causes eachdocument to receive an impression therefrom even though "the distancebetween the trailing edge of one document and the leadingedge of thesucceeding document is "relatively small, and though the documents areadvanced to the document endorsing mechanism at a relatively high rateof speed. 7 I

Another object of the present invention is to provide in an endorser, adocument actuated document endorsing mechanism which utilizes arelatively light weight claw which is slidably supported in a raisedposition by the surface of the document being endorsed and s'lidabledownward after passage of the trailing edge of the docu-' ment into thepath of the succeeding document.

Yet another object of the present invention is to provide in anendorser, a document actuated document endorsing mechanism whichutilizes a relatively light weight document engaging claw for actuationby each document and does not require the use of relatively heavysprings for resetting the claw into the path of the succeeding documentafter each actuation.

Other objects and advantages of our invention will be apparent to thoseskilled in, the art from the following description with reference to thedrawings in which like characters denote like parts and in which:

Fig. 1 is a plan view of an endorser utilizing a document actuateddocument endorsing mechanism according to our invention;

' Fig. 2 is a side elevation view of the endorser utilizing ourinvention taken along line 22 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is an enlarged detail view of the clutch mechanism utilized inthe endorser illustrated in the plan view of Fig. 1;

Fig. 4 is a cross-sectional view of the endorser utilizing our inventiontaken along line 4--4 of Fig. l; and

Figs. 5, 6, and 7 are enlarged detail viewsof thedocumerit actuateddocument mechanism illustrated in Fig. 4 according to our invention. i

The endorser as seen in Fig. 1 utilizes a frame 21 which is preferablycast into the desired shape for mounting the endorser parts in thedesired position. The ink reservoir 23 is integrally formed with frame21, and holds a supply of ink for application to the endorsing mechanismin a manner to be hereinafter described. Frame 21 carries shaft 25 whichis provided with a friction gear 27 and sprocket 29 on one end thereofand friction gear 31 on the other end thereof. Shaft 25 also carriesprint ing drum 33 rotatably thereon and clutch drum 35. Motor 37 drivesshaft 25 through reduction gear 39, sprocket 41 which is fixed relativeto gear 39, chain 43, and sprocket 29. Frame 21 also rotatably carriesshaft 45 on which is mounted friction gears 47 and 49, ad-

vancing roll 51, and sprocket 53 which is also driven from chain 43 asillustrated in Fig. 2. A chain 55 engages a sprocket (not shown) onshaft 45 and a sprocket (not shown) fixed to clutch drum 35 on shaft 25to ensure synchronous rotation thereof. Rotation of shaft 25 istransmitted through friction gears 27 and 31 to shaft 57 by frictiongears 59 and 61. Shaft 57 also carries the platen roll 63. Frictiongears 47 and '49 on shaft 45 transmit rotation to the advancing roll '65which is mounted on shaft 67 through a friction gear 69 mounted on eachof the opposed ends of shaft 67.

Rotation of the clutch drum 35 which is in peripheral contact with afriction gear 70 attached to inkingroll 71, is transmitted to the inkingroll 71, ink conveyor frictional rotational contact with inking roll 71.

roll 73, and ink supply roll 75 through frictional contact with eachother. Thus ink in well 23 is picked up by the ink supply roll 75 duringrotation of the roll 75 which is mounted on shaft 77 supported in plates79 fixed to frame 21. Ink conveyor roll 73 is rotatably mounted on asupport member 31 which is hinged about a shaft 33 mounted in plates 79and which is biased into position by a spring 85. inking roll '71 isrotatably mounted on support brackets 87 which are pivotally mountedabout shaft 77. Ink picked up on the supply roll 75 is transferred atthe point of frictional rotational contact with conveyor roll 73 to theroll 73. Similarly the ink is transferred from the conveyor roll '73 tothe inking roll 71 at the point of frictional rotational contacttherebetween. The ink is next transferred from the inking roll 71 to theprinting drum 33 at the point of Thus, the continuous rotation of theclutch drum is transferred by frictional contact between rolls to theink supply roll 75 and ink is simultaneously transferred from the well23 onto successive rolls to the printing drum 33.

Clutch drum 35 of clutch mechanism 89 is continuously rotated by motor37 acting through chains 43 and 55. A friction gear 91 is mounted on ashort shaft 93 which is pivotally supported on frame 21 by a bracket 95and pin 97 as seen in Fig. 3. Friction gear 91 is biased into peripheralcontact with clutch drum 35 by coil spring 99 which is tensioned betweenshort shaft 93 and shaft 191. Short shaft 93 also carries a ratchet 103rigidly attached thereto and is rotated continuously by friction gear91. The clutch mechanism 89 further comprises a clutch lever 105 havinga beveled edge 107 on each of its opposed ends and which is freelyrotatable on shaft 25. A lever 1119 is mounted behind clutch lever 105within clutch drum 35 and is freely rotatable on shaft 25 for thepurpose of pivotally supporting clutch shoe 111. A pin 113 is providedon one end of lever 1119 for this purpose. Pin 113 also maintainsprinting drum 33 and lever 109 fixed in position relative to each other.One end of clutch shoe 111 is provided with a pin 115 which protrudesthrough a slot 117 in clutch lever 105. A tension spring 119 connectsthe other end of clutch shoe 111 and the other end of lever 109 andbiases clutch foot 121 of the clutch shoe 111 toward engagement with theinner peripheral wall 123 of the clutch drum 35. However clutch foot 121engages wall 123 only after clutch lever 105 is released in response toa document actuation as is hereinafter explained.

In Fig. 4, the numeral 125 designates generally the discharge end of adocument photographing apparatus having a pair of brackets 127 on whichthe endorser is mounted. The document path 129, that is, the paththrough which documents are advanced in the apparatus, is designated bya relatively heavy dotted line in this as well as in other figures. Feedrollers 131 mounted on shaft 191 and in frictional peripheral contactwith platen roll 63, advance a document after discharge from thedocument photographing apparatus, into contact With a document claw 133.Claw 133 is mounted on a pawl lever 135 which is in turn supported bypivot shaft 137 on actuating lever 139. One end of actuating lever 139is pivotally supported on a shaft 141 which is mounted in the frame 21as illustrated in Fig. 2. Thus as the leading edge of the document,designated in the drawings, by the character D, is advanced in contactwith claw 133, claw 133 and pawl 135 are pivoted about pivot shaft 137in a clockwise direction. The ratchet engaging portion 143 of pawl 135engages a tooth of ratchet 103 which, since it is continuously rotatedin a counterclockwise direction, rotates pawl 135 and actuating lever139 upwardly in a clockwise direction about shaft'141. This movementraises the clutch lever engaging end 145 of actuating lever 139 alongbeveled edge 107 of clutch lever 105. Fig. 5 illustrates the relativepositions of the parts just prior to the instant when the claw 133 slipsover the leading edge of document D, the end 143 of pawl 135 disengagesfrom the previously engaged tooth of ratchet 103, and simultaneously end145 is raised free of clutch lever 105 allowing spring 119 to pivot foot121 of clutch shoe 111 about pin 113 into engagement with wall 123 ofclutch drum 35 as a result of the slidable connection of pin 115 in slot117.

-As soon as foot 121 engages wall 123, printing drum 33 rotates withshaft 25 in synchronism with platen roll 63. The impression istransferred from the drum 33 to the document D as the document ispressed between the drum 33 and platen roll 63. After the clutch lever105 and drum 33 begin to rotate, actuating lever 139 and pawl 135 pivotdownwardly in a counterclockwise direction about shaft 141 and pivotshaft 137 respectively to a position where claw 133 rests on the uppersurface of document D as is illustrated in Fig. 6. The positions takenby levers 135 and 139 after release of the clutch lever 105 asillustrated in Fig. 6 is the same as the normal position occupied by thelevers 135 and 139 prior to actuation by a document, said normalposition being illustrated in Fig. 7. Claw 133 is slidably mounted onpins 147 at the lower end of pawl 135 whereby, as illustrated in Fig. 6,claw 133 is raised while a document D is passing beneath it, but as isillustrated in Fig. 7 will immediately drop off of the trailing edge ofthe document into the path of the next advancing document. A lighttension coil spring 149 is connected between pawl lever 151 which isidentical to pawl lever 135 and also fixed to pivot shaft 137, and amember 153 which is pivotally carried by shaft 137 as is illustrated inFig. 1, for preventing pawl lever 135 from pivoting into engagement witha tooth on ratchet 103 while claw 133 is in the raised positionsupported by the surface of document D as is illustrated in Fig. 6.Spring 149 also serves to overcome the friction and inertia of levers135 and 139 to return them quickly to the normal position illustrated inFig. 6, after the tooth on ratchet 103 is disengaged from pawl lever135. Thus regardless of the length of any document the endorsingmechanism will be actuated by only the leading edge of the document andonly one time for each document. Clutch lever 105 rotates only one halfof a complete revolution each time it is released by the actuating lever139. Printing drum 33 also rotates only one half of a completerevolution during the imprinting of the document with the desiredimpression and therefore each half of the printing drum 33 is providedwith identical printing formats. The document after receiving animpression from the printing drum is continued to be advanced by thefrictional contact with the continuously rotating platen roll and by thecontinuously rotating advancing rolls 51 and 65 to be discharged fromthe endorser. Suitable guides 155 and 157 guide the documents in thedocument path 129 through the endorser. The frame 21 is mounted onsupport members 159, 161, and 163 and as illustrated in Fig. 4 can beprovided with a cover 165 for protection of the endorser and safety ofthe operator.

Thus it will be appreciated that we have disclosed a document actuateddocument endorsing mechanism in which the actuating mechanism isactuated by every document even though closely spaced with the precedingdocument because the document claw is supported by the surface of thedocument to fall off the trailing edge into the document path while theremaining parts of the mechanism have been situated in position readyfor actuation by the striking of the claw by the leading edge of thesucceeding document.

Since many variations of the illustrated embodiment of our invention arepossible and will be readily recognized by those skilled in the art, thepresent disclosure is only illustrative and the scope of the inventionis defined by the appended claims.

Having now particularly described our invention, what we desire tosecure by Letters Patent of the United States and what we claim is:

1. Document endorsing apparatus comprising a frame, a document feedroller mounted for rotation in said frame, a platen roller mounted forrotation in said frame in synchronism with the rotation of said feedroller and positioned in peripheral contact with said feed roller, meansfor rotating said feed roller and said platen roller for advancing adocument therebetween, a printing drum having a printing surfacerotatable into contact with said document when supported on said platenroller, a normally disengaged clutch means for normally maintaining saiddrum stationary, and clutch engaging means actuated by the leading edgeof said document for rotating said printing surface in synchronism withsaid platen roller and into contact with said document, said clutchengaging means comprising an actuating lever having one end pivotallymounted to said frame, the other end of said actuating lever being inengagement with said clutch means, a pawl lever pivotally mounted onsaid actuating lever between said one end and said other end, saidactuating lever and said pawl lever occupying normal positions withrespect to said frame prior to actuation by said document, a clawmounted on said pawl lever and normally extending into document engagingposition whereby said document upon striking said claw pivots said pawllever in the direction of travel of said document, means operable onmovement of said pawl lever to pivot said pawl lever and said claw outof engagement with said document and to simultaneously pivot saidactuating lever out of engagement with said clutch means and therebyengaging said clutch means and a relatively light tension means forbiasing said pawl lever and said actuating lever to said normalpositions upon engagement of said clutch means.

2. Document endorsing apparatus comprising a frame, a document feedroller mounted for rotation in said frame, a platen roller mouned forrotation in said frame in synchronism with the rotation of said feedroller and positioned in peripheral contact with said feed roller, meansfor rotating said feed roller and said platen roller for advancing adocument therebetween, a printing drum having a printing surfacerotatable into contact with said document when supported on said platenroller, a normally disengaged clutch means for normally maintaining saiddrum stationary, and clutch engaging means actuated by the leading edgeof said document for rotating said printing surface in synchronism withsaid platen roller and into contact with said document, said clutchengaging means comprising an actuating lever having one end pivotallymounted to said frame, the other end of said actuating lever being inengagement with said clutch means, a pawl lever pivotally mounted onsaid actuating lever between said one end and said other end, saidactuating lever and said pawl lever occupying normal positions withrespect to said frame prior to actuation by said document, a clawmounted on said pawl lever and normally extending into document engagingposition whereby said document upon striking said claw pivots said pawllever in the direction of travel of said document, means operable onmovement of said pawl lever to pivot said pawl lever and said claw outof engagement with said document and to simultaneously pivot saidactuating lever out of engagement with said clutch means and therebyengaging said clutch means, and a relatively light tension means forbiasing said pawl lever and said actuating lever to said normalpositions upon engagement of said clutch means, said claw being slidablymounted on said pawl lever to thereby permit movement to a raisedposition when in contact with the surface of said document and movementinto document engaging position upon passage of the trailing edge ofsaid document. I

3. Document endorsing apparatus comprising a'frame, a document feedroller mounted for rotation in said frame, a platen roller mounted forrotation in said frame in synchronism with the rotation of said feedroller and positioned in peripheral contact with said feed roller, meansfor rotating said feed roller and said platen roller for advancing adocument therebetween, a printing drum having a printing surfacerotatable into contact with said document when supported on said platenroller, a normally disengaged clutch means for normally maintaining saiddrum stationary, and clutch engaging means actuated by the leading edgeof said document for rotating said printing surface in synchronism withsaid platen roller and into contact with said document, said clutchengaging means comprising an actuating lever having one end pivotallymounted to said frame, the other end of said actuating lever being inengagement with said clutch means, a pawl lever pivotally mounted onsaid actuating lever between said one end and said other end, saidactuating lever and said pawl lever occupying normal positions withrespect to said frame prior to actuation by said document, a clawmounted on said pawl lever and normally extending into document engagingposition whereby said document upon striking said claw pivots said pawllever in the direction of travel of said document, a ratchetcontinuously driven by said rotating means and engageable with said pawllever upon movement thereof in the direction of travel of said documentforpivoting said pawl lever and said claw out of engagement with saiddocument and to simultaneously pivot said actuating lever out ofengagement with said clutch means and thereby engaging said clutchmeans, and a relatively light tension means for biasing said pawl leverand said actuating lever to said normal p0 sitions upon engagement ofsaid clutch means, said claw being slidably mounted on said pawl leverto thereby permit movement to a raised position when in contact with thesurface of said document and movement into document engaging positionupon passage of the trailing edge of said document.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS

